Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) has approved Quebecor’s $430 million CAD sale of seven Videotron spectrum licenses to Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.
The package included three 700MHz licenses for Southern Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia and four 2500MHz licenses covering Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
700MHz is a high-quality wireless frequency that Rogers uses for LTE service, while the majority of the high-frequency 2500MHz spectrum auctioned in 2015 went to Telus.
A week previous to the Shaw deal, Quebecor sold its Toronto AWS-1 spectrum to Rogers, in a $184 million deal, which has also now been approved.
According to a Quebecor media release announcing the deal, the most recent spectrum sale more favourably positions the company to pursue its expansion of its Videotron 4G network as well as the eventual rollout of a 5G network.
Meanwhile, Brad Shaw, chief executive officer of Shaw, stated during its recent third-quarter financial results, “We are confident that the acquisition of 700MHz and 2500MHz spectrum from Quebecor Media Inc., combined with Freedom’s current portfolio of assets, will materially improve our customer experience and will further enable our ability to offer best-in-class converged network solutions.”
Source: ISED
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